Probe-A-Load, Inc.

In 1964 McCrabb Brothers Mfg. Inc. became a company in West Liberty, Iowa. The company started with farrowing crates, concrete forms, and aeration equipment. McCrabb’s also manufactured fertilizer toters, fertilizer tenders, fire truck water tenders, and many drying bin and aeration parts that agriculture dealers needed for sales. In 1968 one of our contacts was saying what a hassle probing trucks with a hand probe is and how dangerous it is. This was the spark for the idea of a mechanical probe. We contacted a customer about his interest in a mechanical probe to sample trucks. The customer was excited to have a truck probe that he didn’t have to do by hand. We spent about 6 months with a trial and error to end up with the first truck probe that was all electric, mechanical, and run by a remote control which was in the office.